Andrew LESTER

                   Andrew Lester, the first representative of the name and family in America was a member of the Puritan group. It is thought that he came to New England about 1640 with a company of Welsh gentlemen which was headed by John Winthrop, Jr. The group was known as the 'Blynman Party', the Rev. Blynman being the spiritual leader of the group. Andrew, although he came with this group from Wales, was probably related to the Lesters in the neighboring county of Cheshire. The first definite record we have of him is a record of the birth of his first child, born in Gloucester in 1642; the next is of his appointment Jan. 7, 1643, as constable, an office which at that time was one of importance. Andrew was made a freeman May 10, 1643, and was a proprietor in 1649.""He had a house on the 'neck of house lots' and a lot on Planters Neck. On Dec. 26, 1648 he was given a license to keep a 'house of entertainment (Inn) and to sell wine and 'strong water' there. In 1651 he sold his property to Clement Coldon, and moved with a company that went to a settlement called Pequot, now New London, Conn., where on the 19th of October, 1650, grants of land were made to Mr. Blynman, Andrew Lester and others. Early in 1651, New Street, in the rear of the town plot, was opened for the Cape Ann Company. It was cut into house lots and took the name of Cape Ann Street. The lots on this street were nine in number, of six acres each. Andrew had Lot #4. We know little of his life in New London, but in 1668 he was constable and collector for that town.""Andrew's first wife's name was Barbara (also spelled Barberie and Barbary). Her maiden name is not known and we do not know whether they were married in England or after Andrew came to this country. Barbara died Feb. 2, 1653/4, her death being the first of a white woman in New London. Andrew married second Joanna Hemstead, widow of Robert Hemstead, who died in 1659 without issue. He married third in 1661, Anna (Hannah) Fox, daughter of Henry Brooks and widow of Thomas Fox. Andrew died at New London on June 7, 1669. Anna later married Isaac Willey.""The name Lester was also spelled Lister, Lyster, Leycester and Leister in colonial days. It is said that the names are undoubtedly corruptions of the prominent and noble name of Leicester, historic in Great Britain. One line of the family is reported to have traced the family back through a Lester family in Cheshire County, England, to the time of the ruler Constantine, but we have not found any copy of the line."End notes;Source:"HOPKINSON AND ALLIED FAMILIES, Ancestors and Descendants of Junius Greeley Hopkinson and Perry Hopkinson and their wives Jeanette Eveland and Lois Amanda Moffett", Co-authors Laura Huffman, Aura M. and Alsey E. Hopkinson, 1965, hardcover, publisher not noted